Phison chairman and chief executive officer Pua Khein-Seng told StarBiz that Silterra was now studying the feasibility of manufacturing the silicon wafer for the Phison's unit, which would be established in Penang in three to six months.

"The unit will undertake the development and design of flash memory applications and solution products.
Our other partner, Index Diversified Sdn Bhd, will distribute and market them in the local and South-East Asia markets," he said.

"The assembly of the finished flash memory products would be outsourced to small and medium enterprises in the country.
We will decide on the volume of units to be produced six months later," he added.

Pua: 'The assembly of the finished flash memory products would be outsourced to small and medium enterprises in the country.'

Pua also said that the investment of US$1mil to US$3mil would be for the salaries of engineers and purchasing the necessary equipment.

Phison Electronics Corporation chief executive Pua Khein Seng, who is well-known as the 'Father of the Pendrive', has threatened to take legal action against Utusan Malaysia for accusing him of funding the so-called DAP cybertroopers dubbed the 'Red Bean Army'.

A Malaysian, Pua Khein-Seng, co-founded Phison Electronics Corp, a multi-billion dollar listed Taiwanese company that developed the world's first USB flash removable disk, which became known as the pen drive.